Texas Supreme Court paves way for strict abortion law to remain in place
CBSN
The Texas Supreme Court on Friday paved the way for the nation's toughest abortion law to remain in place in a ruling that again deflated clinics' hopes of stopping - or even pausing - the restrictions anytime soon.
The ruling by the all-Republican court is the latest defeat for Texas abortion providers, which have now lost at both the U.S. Supreme Court and the state's highest court since a ban on abortions after roughly six weeks of pregnancy took effect in September.
It is likely to further embolden other Republican-controlled states that are now pressing forward with similar laws, including neighboring Oklahoma, where many Texas women have crossed state lines to get an abortion for the past six months. The Republican-controlled Oklahoma Senate on Thursday approved a half-dozen anti-abortion measures, including a Texas-style ban.
Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.
The knock at the door came at nighttime on Mother's Day 2008 in Oregon, where Jessica Ellis' parents lived. It was around 9:20 p.m. and his wife, Linda, was already in bed; her father Steve Ellis told CBS News, that he thought someone let their animals out — but two soldiers in Class A uniforms were standing at the door.